The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. Such scaling down has also increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs and, for these advances to be realized, similar developments in IC manufacturing are needed.
Semiconductor integrated circuit microelectronic fabrications are formed from semiconductor substrates within and upon which are formed semiconductor devices, and over which are formed patterned conductor layers separated by dielectric layers. Ubiquitous within the fabrication of semiconductor integrated circuit microelectronic fabrications is the use of field effect transistor (FET) devices as switching devices within both logic semiconductor integrated circuit microelectronic fabrications and memory semiconductor integrated circuit microelectronic fabrications. Field effect transistor (FET) devices are ubiquitous within the art of semiconductor integrated circuit microelectronic fabrication for use as switching devices within logic and memory semiconductor integrated circuit microelectronic fabrications. Field effect transistor (FET) devices, in addition to being generally readily fabricated within semiconductor integrated circuit microelectronic fabrications, are also generally readily scalable within semiconductor integrated circuit microelectronic fabrications.
While field effect transistor (FET) devices are thus clearly desirable and essential in the art of semiconductor integrated circuit microelectronic fabrication, the fabrication of field effect transistor (FET) devices with enhanced performance is challenging to achieve while simultaneously decreasing the dimensions. It is within this context the following disclosure arises.